‘IT’S A TIME FOR US TO PAUSE FOR THOUGHT’
Joanna Lumley talks about lockdown life with editor-in-chief Gaby Huddart, and considers what the long-lasting legacies of this year might be
Joanna Lumley opens up about her life in lockdown
One of the nation’s busiest actors and presenters, who has recently made travel documentaries her own, Joanna Lumley has, like all of us, experienced a year like no other. Rather than embarking on the travelling and filming that was planned, she has stayed at home for months with her husband, conductor Stephen Barlow, thrown herself into different pastimes and worked hard on staying positive.
You are always so busy; what was it like for you being at home all the time during lockdown?
I realised that at no point in my grown-up life have I ever had a time like this. I’m always working. I’ve never woken up and thought, ‘What should I do today?’ That has been extraordinary. Learning how to order your day when you have nothing in your diary. I tried to be disciplined and create a routine, to make an effort, to get up, get dressed and put on some make-up so that when I went for a walk and said ‘hello’ to people, I didn’t look like the wrath of God!
You always seem to be such an optimistic person – do you think that’s stood you in good stead over recent months? It’s not always easy, but I feel I’ve had so much to be grateful for: I have a fabulous husband and a lovely house with a garden. Early on in lockdown, we had this phenomenal, freakish weather with those blue skies, even bluer because there were no aeroplanes, and we could hear all the birds tweeting. I have a house full of books that I can turn to. And God bless Netflix and all those programmes, so there has always been plenty to watch.
A lot of filming was put on ice; did that affect projects you were working on?
I was in the middle of filming Finding Alice with Keeley Hawes and a cracking cast – it’s such a ripping story. We had already edited and polished off the first three episodes, which are ready to go, so now we have the next three to film. I imagine we’ll be working like the wind to get those ready as soon as we can film them. Keeley is fabulous, so I do think it will be gorgeous to watch when it comes on ITV.
It’s not always easy, but I feel I have so much to be grateful for
What about the wonderful travel documentaries you have become so well known for?
My big journey this year was going to be following the spice route from the Far East through to Egypt. It had to be cancelled, obviously. Instead, we’re going to be doing a wonderful series around the British Isles, exactly like my documentary programmes, which focuses on interesting things – things that resonate with me and that I’ve always loved. Funnily enough, it’s been in the back of my mind anyway as a kind of tribute to what we have, who we are and what a fabulous place this is. I’m going to be covering England, Scotland, Northern Ireland, Wales, the Republic of Ireland and outlying islands – not exhaustively, it’s not going to be a geography lesson, but it’s going to be about things that have run through my life, so it’s a very selfish programme. That’s why it’s going to be called Joanna Lumley’s Home
Sweet Home; it’s all the bits and pieces of work I’ve done, the people I’ve met and the charities I support.
It sounds like you have a lot coming up…
Yes, and there’s one more thing. Whenever we make documentaries around the world, we have to drop sequences because there’s not enough time to show them. But we’ve kept them all, edited them and now we’re collecting them together and I’m going to do some presenting (probably from my garden), so we can show them. I think it’s going to be something like Joanna Lumley’s Hidden Travels or Unseen Travels. So that’s thrilling, too.
Presumably you and Stephen were often apart because of work. It must be lovely to now be able to spend a length of time together at home?
Absolutely. By now, he would have been rehearsing and performing with opera singers for the two operas he was going to be conducting. But just like my work, all his was cancelled for this year. So we’ve been here together, which has been blissful, though I suspect he must be getting a bit fed up with me now.
I doubt that very much! And what about your lovely granddaughters, Alice and Emily? You must miss them?
Oh yes, but I did have great luck because I saw both of them this year before lockdown. It was sensational to have seen them as they live in the north of Scotland. I don’t expect to see them every week because of where they live, but we have done a couple of Zoom get-togethers.
So you’ve embraced the latest technology?
We’ve done the odd Zoom, but I find when you have nine people on there it’s quite hard to get the protocol of when you should speak or go quiet, or when to put your hand up. So, in all honestly, I prefer one-to-one calls. I’d rather just speak to one person. I’m not usually a great phone chatter, so I don’t pick up the phone and gossip for hours. But this year has made me much more conscious of how lovely it is to talk to someone on the telephone. No one is expecting anything or making big plans – all we’re saying is ‘how are you?’, ‘how’s life?’. That’s pretty gorgeous and it’s been wonderful to have time to just catch up with people on the phone.
It was lovely to see in the newspaper some pictures of you laughing with other shoppers in a supermarket queue, and doing socially distanced selfies…
All through lockdown I was going to the same supermarket during the ‘oldies’ hour on a Friday. A lot of us arrived at the same time and would say, ‘Hello, lovely to see you, how has your week been?’ So we had another little party. I think someone in a passing car saw us all and took the picture of us, but it was the same every week.
Is there anything you found particularly difficult or challenging over the past few months?
I have not loved social distancing, which fills me with not exactly depression, that’s the wrong word, but a kind of gloom or dread. We’re human beings, we are pack animals, so we love being in a herd, we love hugging and touching and listening and jostling. We love it, which is why we live happily in crowded cities and so on. It’s sad that such contact has not been
possible. I also love to see people’s faces, so I find it difficult that we have to wear masks sometimes. It’s important to do so of course, but sad not to be able to see everyone’s expressions.
Have you cooked more in the months you’ve been at home or has it been Stephen in the kitchen?
We’ve both been cooking, but we’re very conscious that quite a lot of time is spent sitting still in front of a laptop. Usually, I’m rushing about on the tube, charging here and there, burning adrenaline and using a lot of energy when I’m working. We’re simply not using that energy at home, no matter how hard I garden or what I try to scrub or paint. So the danger is that the fridge door is terribly close to the kitchen table and we’ve tried not to overindulge.
Have you been gardening a lot then?
Yes, this is another of the pluses. I’m not a very good gardener, but I’m a loving gardener and I really enjoy it. I’m usually filming away from home, often abroad, at this time of year, so I never see the garden at its best. I’ll put roses in and miss them budding or coming into bloom. I’ll come back at the end and wonder, ‘Oh, was it lovely?’ So it’s been fabulous to see my garden growing right through spring and into summer.
There is a lot of concern about the long-term impact that this year will have on the arts, especially around theatres opening. Do you have worries about that?
It’s agony. At Grange Park Opera, of which I sit on the board, we’ve set up a thing called The Pandemicists to support the staff and artists. People who were going to be working on these operas now have no work. No one’s paying them. Similarly, no one’s paying the dancers in the big West End shows. No one’s paying the young actors or the young playwrights. And yet, it’s ironic that one of the biggest things that we’ve all had in this lockdown is the unquenchable appetite for entertainment. So many of us have wanted to watch opera, ballet and theatre performances on TV. We have yearned to be entertained. And yet there’s no protection for the people involved in creating it. How hard it is that some people have been paid 80% and other people got nothing and have had to resort to relying on charities.
Have the events of the past six months made you reflect on how you might live your life going forward?
I think they have. I’m not a spendthrift; I don’t go up and down Bond Street buying bags that cost £1,500. But that doesn’t exonerate me from living a pretty plentiful lifestyle. During this time, I looked at my wardrobe of clothes, many of which are for occasions because I do quite a lot of presenting, and I’ve just realised that I really don’t need that many things. I admit I adore jewellery, mostly junk jewellery, it has to be said; I can’t resist a pair of earrings for £1.99, but maybe I don’t need to get quite so many earrings, you know? I think I’ll be more conscious of not being wasteful and not using too many resources from this world.
Do you think there may be any other legacies of this time?
It’s struck me that carers have always had a bloody thin deal. I mean nurses get almost nothing, but carers get even less, not even recognition. So this is very good in a funny way that we’re starting to think about them. Old people have not tended to be news in the past, but now they are suddenly news and how they’re looked after is news. I feel lots of us will look towards our own futures and think, ‘God, is that the way it’s going to be?’ So I think it’s done something quite extraordinary, this ghastly deadly virus: it has made us think again and consider people who have been overlooked. There is not very much that makes us stop and do that, but I do think this has.
One last question: how do you think Patsy Stone would have coped during lockdown?
Luckily, there are a lot of online drinks deliveries! She would obviously have been sleeping in a cupboard or something over at Edina’s pad, and they would have had shipments of Champagne and vodka brought in. Edina would have gone mad because she would have had nowhere to spend all her money, and the designer clothes shopping wouldn’t have happened. But Patsy wouldn’t have given a jot; she would have had a roomful of cigarettes and she’d have lived off Champagne. She’d have been just fine. Actually, I’m not sure she’d have noticed the difference.
It’s been fabulous seeing my garden grow right through spring and into summer